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Navigating with the Nautilus File and Internet Integration Manager
Being the boss doesn’t make you a bad person. It’s just a job. Right? Well, that little GNOME guy is a good worker and doesn’t get paid much. Just press a key here, click a button there, and you can boss him around like any worthy pointy-headed Dilbert manager. GNOME even comes with its own file and integration manager that saves work and makes time for those long lunches.Nautilus is the GNOME file and Internet navigator system. Nautilus follows in the tradition of all good file managers by graphically displaying the files and directories on your computer. You can copy, move, delete, and execute files by pointing and clicking; creating directories and viewing file details are a snap too. Nautilus even goes a step further: You can use it to configure your GNOME desktop. And, that’s not all! Nautilus can also navigate the Internet, access multimedia applications, and slice and dice! It’s not a bad deal, considering that it works for free.
Waking up Nautilus
Red Hat Linux configures Nautilus to start automatically when you log in. Nautilus appears toward the end of the login process and works as a file manager (see Figure 10-1, which shows the contents of your home directory). If you want to start it manually — after you have closed it, for example — right-click anywhere on the desktop background and choose New Window.
Figure 10-1: The Nautilus File Manager.
The main menu follows familiar menu formats (File and Edit, for example) and does all the things you would expect those menus to do. The toolbar immediately below the main menu enables you to quickly move up one directory (Up) and skip back to previous moves (Back and Forward). It also lets you rescan a directory, go to your home directory, and change the way icons are displayed.TipThe Reload function is useful if you create a new file — for example, via a terminal emulator. The file doesn’t show up in the File Manager until you move to another directory and return, or else reload.
Moving files and directories
Moving a file or directory is as simple as clicking and dragging the item you want to move to the directory you want to move it to. Release the button and you have moved your file or directory.You can move multiple files by clicking and dragging the mouse cursor over the files you want. The mouse cursor creates a rectangular outline and highlights all files within that box. Next, click anywhere within the highlighted box and drag the mouse cursor to the directory you want. Release the mouse button and the files move to the specified directory.
Copying files and directories
Copying a file or directory is a bit more complicated than moving one. Rather than simply click and drag an icon someplace, you have to right-click the file or directory icon and choose Copy from the menu that opens. Next, enter the directory you want to copy to by double-clicking its icon. When the directory opens, right-click anywhere on the background and choose the Paste option. The file or directory is copied to the new location.You can copy multiple files and directories in the same manner as you copied individual ones. Trace a box around the files or directories you want to copy by clicking and dragging the mouse cursor. Next, right-click any of the blue highlighted icon names (but not the white space around the icon and names themselves) and choose the Copy option. Double-click the directory to copy to, right-click the background, and choose Paste. Release the mouse button and the files are copied to the specified directory.
Deleting files and directories
Deleting files and directories is much the same process as copying them. You right-click the file or directory icon you want and choose Move to Trash from the menu that opens. The file or directory is moved to the Trash directory.Tip“Trashed” files and directories aren’t immediately deleted. When you use the Move to Trash option to delete a file, for example, the file is moved to the Trash folder. Open the Trash directory by double-clicking its icon and then right-clicking the file or directory to delete. Choose the Delete from Trash option. The Delete from Trash warning window opens and prompts you to confirm the deletion. Click the Delete key and the file is erased.
You can delete multiple files and directories. Again, you trace a box by clicking and dragging the mouse cursor. Right-click the blue highlighted icons or icon names (but not the white space around the icon and name). The files or directories are moved to the Trash directory.
Creating directories
Right-click anywhere in a Nautilus window and choose New Folder to create a new directory. A new folder is displayed with the name Untitled folder. Enter any name for the directory as you please.
Viewing files and directories
Files and directories are displayed onscreen as icons by default. The only information an icon shows is the name and whether an item is a file or directory (directory icons also show the number of files and directories they contain). You can display additional information by clicking ViewView As List or ViewView AsView As Catalog.This list describes the differences between views:
Icons view: The default display option; shows the icon and indicates whether an item is a file or directory. Regular file icons take several forms, but text and configuration files look like pieces of paper with a corner folded. Files containing specific types of data have small subicons overlaid on the file icon. For example, PDF files have a PDF subicon. Links, devices, and other objects take other forms. Directories take the form of a partially open manila folder. Icons are evenly placed across the entire File Manager screen. Icons tend to make distinguishing files and directories easier but take up more space onscreen.
List view: Displays the size and time stamp of each file and directory in addition to their names.
View as: Enables you to select icons or lists as your default folder view for all or specific directories. You can also associate MIME types with specific applications.
TipYou can use Nautilus to create on your desktop some shortcut icons that point to files or applications. In Nautilus, just click and drag any file or application to any blank part of the desktop and then release the mouse button. An icon is placed on the desktop. You can then start the application by double-clicking its icon. If the icon points to a data file (a text file, for example) and Nautilus knows how to handle its MIME type, Nautilus launches the appropriate application to open the file. Otherwise, Nautilus prompts you to tell it which application to use to open it.
Technical StuffNautilus is programmed to recognize numerous Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) types, and they define what type of information a file stores — in other words, MIME keeps its own Rolodex, of sorts. Each MIME type is associated with certain file extensions. For example, when you double-click a .doc file, Nautilus recognizes that the .doc file suffix corresponds to a Word document MIME type and opens the OpenOffice word processor (as described in Chapter 13), which loads the .doc file.TipNautilus provides the ability to bookmark your favorite locations. The Nautilus bookmark function works just like Mozilla’s or any other web browser’s. Go to any directory and click BookmarksAdd Bookmark. You only have to click Bookmarks and select the particular bookmark to go to that location. You can modify existing bookmarks by choosing BookmarksEdit Bookmarks.
Running programs
Nautilus is such a hard worker that it happily launches commands for you. Right-click the icon you want to run in order to open a submenu and then choose Open. For example, if you click the xclock icon in the /usr/bin/X11 directory, xclock appears on your desktop. (Double-clicking the icon also works.)Managers are generally not very smart. But Nautilus is smarter than the average manager, and it knows what to do when it encounters various file types. If you open a non-executable file, such as a PDF file, File Manager knows which program to use in order to view it.
